The Challenges of Long-Term Unemployment:

The Challenges of Long-Term Unemployment:

The Promise of an Inclusive Psychology-of-Working Perspective for Counseling Practice and Public Policy

David L. BlusteinBoston Collegeblusteid@bc.eduMy Contribution to the ConferenceAs a scholar in vocational psychologyAs a practitioner who works with the long-term unemployedAs a researcher who studies working and unemploymentAs an educator of counselors and psychologistsAs a passionate advocate for justice and equity for all.Overarching QuestionWhat sorts of interventions work with the long-term unemployed?To what extent is traditional career counseling effective?What are our best options to help the long-term unemployedAt the individual level???At the systemic level???

What do we know about long-term unemployment?In order to think carefully about how to manage this crisis, we need to know more about the experience of long-term unemployment.

Where can we find answers?Narratives and memoirs of the unemployed:Staying in touch with the real lived experienceResearch:Creating the foundation for evidence-based practiceVignettes from the UnemployedIts done a number to my confidenceits affected my desire to be proactive in myself theres certainly a depression involved in there. Im certainly down. I know I was happier when I worked cause I had friends. I was keeping busy, healthier in more ways than one physical, mental, everything.Boston College Unemployment studyVignettes from the UnemployedAnd they said that you had counselors here but a counselor cannot do anything for me. You have a job-- what can you possibly do for me that youve got a job And when I leave you, you still have a job. Im out here hustling the best I can to make sure that I still have a roof over my head and still able to eat and I can still apply myself and get some a little bit of satisfaction in the processBoston College Unemployment study

Vignettes from the unemployedEvery time I think about money, I shut down because there is none. I get major panic attacks. I just dont know what were going to do.

After struggling and struggling and not being able to pay my house payments or my other bills, I finally sucked up my pride; I got food stamps just to help feed my daughter.New York Times, 12/14/09The Unemployed:Real People with Real Problems

The Unemployed:Real People with Real Problems

Unemployment and Mental Health:What does the research tell us?Marie Jahoda proposed that work provides us with five important life needs:Time structureSocial contactCollective purposeStatusActivity Unemployment-Mental Health Meta-analysis: Paul and MoserIntegrated results of 237 studies with nearly half a million participants.Results included the following:People who lost their jobs experienced an increase in mental health problemsOnce people became reemployed, their mental health improvedJournal of Vocational Behavior, 2009

Explain a meta analysis:A statistical summary of research studies.12Paul and MosersMeta-Analysis

Mental health problems exist in 16% of the general population and 34% of the unemployed.

Paul and MosersMeta-Analysis

Mental health problems are more pronounced among Menblue-collar workerslong-term unemployedWilliam Julius Wilson:When Work DisappearsWilson studied urban Chicago to understand the impact of the loss of employment.The loss of work was associated with increases in family problems, the breakdown of communities (increased crime, substance abuse, etc.)Work creates the link to the greater social community.People suffer individually without work.Communities suffer as well, creating a cycle of poverty and despair

Individual-Level InterventionsTwo interrelated types of interventions exist:Career counseling focuses on helping clients develop and implement meaningful career plans.Focuses on exploring self, the world of work, and the process of optimizing the match.Job search counseling (aka employment counseling)Focuses on helping a client locate work;Used in working with unemployed and underemployedAlso relevant for employed people making transitionsCareer Counseling Is EffectiveAs reflected in numerous meta-analyses, career counseling interventions are effective inenhancing career decidednesssatisfaction with workconfidence about decision-making skills.

Why Do Career Counseling Interventions Work?Brown and Krane (2002) found that individuals benefited the most from career counseling interventions that took 4-5 sessions to complete.Five components of effective career counseling were identified:(1) individualized interpretation and feedback(2) finding and building supportive social networks(3) effective role models (4) learning about the world of work (5) use of written exercises.

Job-Search InterventionsA recent 2014 meta-analysis by Liu, Huang, and Wang of job search interventions concluded the following:Job search interventions, in general, are effective in helping people to obtain work.Job search programs are particularly effective when they blend skills development with motivational interventions

This meta-analysis indicated that the odds of finding employment were 2.67 times higher for job seekers participating in job search interventions compared to job seekers in the control group, who did not participate in such intervention programs.

19Job Search Interventions The effective interventions tended to include the following:Teaching job search skillsImproving self-presentation (includes in person presentation as well as written materials)Boosting self-efficacyEncouraging proactivityPromoting goal settingEnlisting social support

Job-Search InterventionsLui and colleagues also identified that job search interventions are less effective for long-term unemployed job seekers.They suggest that the complex needs of the long-term unemployed may require:Occupational skills training Interventions that focus on enhancing self-esteemInterventions that involve the entire family to reduce stress and enhance social support

Furthermore, results from meta-analytic path analysis indicate that job search interventions lead to higher probability of employment by increasing job seekers job search skills, job search self-efficacy, and job search behaviors.21Whats missing????Means of connecting the career counseling and the job search processesin effect integrating short-term and long-term goals for clientsMeans of connecting work-based issues to mental health and relational issuesMeans of intervening in a way that will empower clients, especially those facing long-term unemployment, to be active agents in their livesMeans of taking our collective knowledge and advocating for transformative change in the economy!I propose that we need to break out the mold of existing practices to embrace a more inclusive, justice-oriented perspective that can inform a broad array of individual and systemic interventions.22A New Perspective:The Psychology of WorkingWhat is the psychology-of-working perspective?An inclusive framework that seeks to examine the nature of working in an integrative fashion.A perspective that is built on the principles of social justice, equity, and access to opportunity.A perspective that reduces artificial boundaries between career counseling, job search, and other helping interventions.A perspective that focuses on empowerment and the development of agency for individuals and communities.Assumptions of the Psychology of WorkingAt its best, working can fulfill ourNeed for survival and power

Need for social connections

Need for self-determination

Relevant Assumptions of the Psychology of WorkingWork is a central aspect of life.Working is central to mental health. Work and non-work experiences are often seamlessly experienced in the natural course of peoples lives.

The Psychology of Working and the Long-Term UnemployedWhat is the value added by the psychology of working perspective?a. Integrative interventions:Link job search and career counseling into a cohesive intervention.Link mental health interventions/prevention into a cohesive approach

The Psychology of Working and the Long-Term UnemployedInfusing social justice into individual and systemic interventions:Following Sharones findings, we need to find ways of reducing self-blame.Introduce critical consciousness into the counseling and job search work.

Critical consciousnessCritical ConsciousnessBased on Frieres critical pedagogy and liberation psychology, critical consciousness development refers to helping members of marginalized groups critically analyze and act to change their social conditions.As Friere advocated for the peasants in Brazil, we need to help our clients read the world.Reduces blaming the victimEnhances agency and collective action

The Psychology of Working and the Long-Term UnemployedSystemic Change:One of the participants in the Boston College Unemployment study asked me to make sure that our findings reach the broader public.In a nutshell, this participant saidWe are not doing wellwe are not content and we need jobs!!!!We want our political leaders to take action.I am trying to follow up this participants recommendations.Systemic changesWe are bearing witness to a crisis that is affecting individuals and communities.We need to use our knowledge, both intellectual and emotional, to advocate for full employment.We need to advocate for the implementation of the Millennuium Development goals and the UN Human Rights charter here at home.Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (UN Declaration of Human Rights, Article 23)

Systemic changesExtend unemployment benefitsEnhance funding for one-stop career centers across the countryIdentify best practices from one-stops and other programsInfuse funds into evidence-based training programs in community collegesCreate nimble and responsive institutions that can provide wrap-around services for the long-term unemployed.

Closing CommentThanks to Ofer Sharone and his colleagues at MIT for putting together this important conference.Lets take the ideas and energy culled here to infuse our work with new initiatives.Lets call upon our political and corporate leaders to develop a Marshall type plan for the long-term unemployedEliminate discrimination against the long-term unemployed.Create work for the long-term unemployed that will rebuild our communities and rebuild their shaken inner lives.